I just received these bags and love them. No seam down the side, crystal clear, and most importantly breathing room. You can slip the box in and out very easily. They come from Canada and are a bit expensive but they are a custom fit. I bought 25 of them with the flap for about $90.00. Box Set Outer Sleeve - with or without a flap
Yes, and $125 is way too much for what you describe. Even if you take the emotional “disingenuous” factor out of the equation, it’s still a problem for many that MFSL is essentially charging $125 for a process for which others are charging $30-$50. What the interview didn’t mention is that marginal cost goes down with pretty much each unit produced with each lacquer. The ability to easily recut lacquers and make 3x, 4x, 5x the numbers of copies because you’re using the same DSD master means your profit margin (which is a function of cost) and total profit goes up considerably vs an AAA process.
The MoFi process is completely different. Where are these one-steps on 45rpm for $30? What others are doing their own transfer from the original master tapes to DSD256 (often offsite), and then mastering in the analog domain?
There’s nothing more special about transferring tapes to DSD256 than, say, transferring to 1:1 30ips analog. There’s nothing special about doing one-steps from a digital master. They’re putting $50 records in a $5 box and charging $125 for them. It’s amazing people still believe MFSL’s BS.
There are countless AAA albums that have been in print for years that sell for $30 or less, not to mention vintage AAA copies. It's about supply & demand and quality that people are being charged $125 for. It's not like the AAA aspect was all people were buying these for — there are plenty of AAA versions of Monk's Dream, Yes Fragile, Santana Abraxas, etc out there that sound great and are/were cheap.
MFSL does generally make good to great soundings records, but it’s greatest skill, by far IMO, is convincing the gullible that they have some sort of magical fairly dust. That’s what a lot of people are paying a $75 premium for. Well…that and a useless $5 box they have been convinced “adds value”. There are still believers, but that number is dwindling. Combined with economic realities, I can see a restructuring of MFSL’s strategy coming. But MFSL will be pulled kicking and screaming into it because the One-Steps have been a golden egg - make a $50 record and charge $125 for it. That won’t be easy for them to give up on.
Thanks for the heads up that I’m one of 267 people (are you one of them?) to state their opinion more than once in this thread...
So then should Analogue Productions be charging $125-150 for their box versions ? They’re evening saving on travel costs Curious.
They are a tiny company with meaningless 2021 profit of $9 million....and they have a niche product offering based completely on BS...so "restructuring" in this case would equal chapter 11.
For the believers that still have money there is a new sealed BS&T for MSRP on Discogs and some others like Desperado new for near cost. Those 2 both sound great to me. That is not including the 78 listings, some with multiple copies, below MSRP but those 2 don’t usually show up in that list. Yes Fragile down to $220 New Sealed give it some more time.
I love how people are claiming that the value proposition is now gone because they aren’t AAA. Why were people buying these in the first place? To make them feel warm and fuzzy inside because they are all analogue ? Maybe if you thought if you put them under your pillow at night the AAA fairy will come and leave you a nickel. Myself I bought them for sound quality. I don’t have all one steps, and some of my passes seem to be the less regarded ones (by luck - I preordered what I wanted). Each one step I have has beaten out every copy I’ve compared them to, besides Folk Singer, and I’ve compared them all. That doesn’t change because I now know they are DSD. Edit to add that Folk Singer is also very good, just not a clear home run over the AP45.
I was dreading visiting this thread after reading the MOFI “confessional”. So far, about what I expected. Curious, any fire sales on Abraxis?
Nah, Abraxas is fine. Prices holding steady. In fact three sellers on youtube have said their Mofi sells have either not been hurt at all or have increased customer base. Crazy huh? If there is any holding steady of secondary market prices it was cooling down a bit before the Mofi thing hit. The One Steps just arent being flipped as much for big prices like they were. Even before Mofi-gate. And plus sales go down in the summertime. Vacations to pay for. More people going back to work since the pandemic has cooled off a bit. Less time to browse and spend money on records like when working from home. Old hobbies coming back etc etc. I doubt in the long run the Mofi mess will make that much difference. Good for me! More great sounding lps from them! But yeah, sorry but Abraxas for a couple of bills aint happenin looks like.
Being digitally sourced I would say they are close to $30 records. The DSD element makes them nothing special in process though Mo-Fi arguably have an excellent mastering chain and press on high quality vinyl.
At only 1000 produced, it's still a very rare product. And still an exceptional one. The price is unlikely to drop much.
I think the scandal has gone over some peoples heads but these sell mostly on rarity even though 2500 copies isn't particularly rare in the world of rare records. My guess is prices have peaked
Unless I've calculated wrongly you are quoting only 40% of the production quantity currently showing on MOFI site which is 2500. Still, that particular title is reasonably limited, the same cannot be said about other offerings.
